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Thursday, 23 March 2017

Islam vs Islamic Thinking

Islamic
thinking is product of mental exertions of people which apply Islamic
principles for seeking solutions of problems of their age/period; but Islam is
what gives principles to solve such problems, and Islam is outcome of wahi
(i.e. Quran and Hadith) . But it does not mean that principles contained in
Islam i.e. Quran and Hadith may be understood or discovered without
intellectual exertions. In case of Islam, intellectual exertions aim at
discovering principles already contained in Islam; but in case of Islamic
thinking, intellectual exertions are made to invent or discover solutions of
problems/issues pertaining to the present age through application of principles
already contained in or discovered in Islam. It may also be appreciated that
sources of Islam are only Quran and Hadith; these sources contain worded as
well as un-worded Islamic principles. The worded Islamic principles are
revealed (they come on the surface) through wahi and as such are Islam. The un-worded
Islamic principles (which are contained in Quran and Hadith, but they do not come on the surface through prophetic wahi) are discovered out of these sources through intellectual
exertions and are not part of Islam; such discovered Islamic principles are part of
Islamic Thinking like solutions of problems to be faced by Muslims in each age.
In other words, Quran and Hadith; has worded Islamic principles as well as un-worded Islamic
principles. The worded Islamic principles are Islam. The un-worded Islamic
principles are discovered through intellectual exertions/ connotation and become a part of
Islamic Thinking. Thus Islamic Thinking is not only un-worded Islamic
principles discovered through connotation/ intellectual exertions from Quran and
Hadith but also an approach to solve problems faced by the Muslims of an age on
the basis of worded as well as un-worded Islamic principles. It may also be appreciated what is relating to Islamic Thinking is always subject to approval of majority (people or scholars, as the case may be), as has been seen in many previous articles. Quran and hadith are 'al-haque'; these are Allah's deeds (Allah Himself has brought them on the surfacein the form of words) and as such are not outcome of human opinion (majority or minority opinion) but Islamic Thinking is 'haque' which is product of human opinion and is brought on the surface by human intellect and as such is subject to approval of majority opinion.

From
above we may conclude that connotation of worded principles of Islam may not be
termed as Islam; it may be termed only as Islamic Thinking. But Munkareen e
Hadith dare to determine sources of Islam through making connotation of
worded principles of Islam. Munkareen e Hadith need to appreciate they do not
have authority to decide whether or not Hadith is source of Islam. They need to
understand it is not the ambit of Islamic Thinking or connotation of worded
Islamic principles to determine sources of Islam; Islamic sources
are what have been determined by Allah in the form of Quran and
Hadith. It is not the job of human intellect to determine sources of
Islam. The difference between connotation and worded Islamic principles is that connotation is not found in words in the texts of Quran and Hadith but worded Islamic principles are those which are found in words in the texts of Quran and Hadith. Sources of Islam are what are found in worded Islamic principles; they are not those which are found in the form of connotation. Since last fourteen centuries, Muslims have been accepting worded Islamic principles as sources of Islam, without making any connotation thereof, and Muslims would continue accepting worded Islamic principles as sources of Islam without any connotation as long as Muslims exist as Muslims. Sources of Islam as contained in worded Islamic principles are Quran and Hadith.

We may conclude that Quran and Hadith contain two types of principles- the worded principles
and un-worded principles. The worded principles ate those which have
come on the surface through wahi and these are found in the form of
Words in the texts of Quran and Hadith. The un-worded principles are
those which are not found in the form of words in the texts of Quran and
Hadith and which do not come on the surface through wahi; rather they
are discovered from Quran and Hadith through human intellectual
exertions. The worded principles are called sources of Islam; the
un-worded principles are called Islamic Thinking. The Quran and Hadith/ worded principles are Al -haque; Islamic Thinking is 'Haque'. Denial of Al-haque is 'kufr'- denial of Hadith means to deny a hadith, knowing that it is rightly attributed to our Nabi s.a.w.w. Denial of 'Haque'is 'Batil' / sin, in the light of al-maidah-44 (for details plz see https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2017/03/fallacy-of-takfeeri-doctrine.html#links). Denial of 'Haque' is also Sin/Batil in the light of al-nisaa-59 which states:"O you who have believed, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in
authority among you. And if you disagree over anything, refer it to
Allah and the Messenger, if you should believe in Allah and the Last
Day. That is the best [way] and best in result". This verse states that Muslims should obey men of authority (leadership)- state leadership or religious leadership. If people disagree with what they are commanded by leadership, decision will be taken on the basis of what Allah and Rasool s.a.w.w. has given- means on the basis of principles contained in Quran and Hadith. In other words, Muslims are being directed to obey such orders/ decisions of leadership, which are based on Quran and Hadith. If we do not obey this Quranic commandment, we will be committing sin . It may also be appreciated that Islamic Thinking may have different views but not contradictory views. If religious leadership gives different views/ commandments relating to the same issue, denial of majority leadership's commandment would be sin/ 'batil'.